There has been no objective assessment of what changes/developments Mandela brought to the oppressed community of Africa. Secondly, ordinary followers hijacked the leader and sabotaged the good wave and good-will, almost similar to what happened to Dr Ambedkar of India.

Actually, when talking about Nelson Mandela, it will help me recall Beyond, which is the well-known band in China.This a band from Hong Kong composed a song named Years of Glory in Cantonese, which touched a generation of Chinese people. From Nelson Mandela,from this song, it gives us so much courage and movement when facing with troubles and inequalities. and Mr.Mandela is a real hero of Africa, even the world. nowadays, this kind of leaders and heroes become less and less, I think these heroes are created by his age. A turbulent time will help his coutry people change his mind and create some giants.

No, I think you are wrong about such leaders and heroes becoming less and less. Your underestimate propaganda; such leaders and heroes are continually manufactured . . .. and people continually fall for it.

we respect and admire these leaders and heroes for their contribution to the progress of human.we admire what they have done for huaman, not just for propaganda. To some degree, propaganda may overstate something and some kind of heroes are contiually manufactured, but history will show it to us.

east wind, im not sure if you are a citizen of south africa. im not sure if you have a clue what appertheid is, when it happened and what it entailed. your comments, in my humble opinion, are uninformed and off the topic. the apartheid bosses are long gone and we as a country is in mourn for our beloved leader. sure the ANC is not on track in my opinion, in building a better country for all, but Madiba sure started the process well. RIP Tata Madiba

I don't know much about Nelson Mandela before I heard that Mandela's death, but I know a little information from the article now. His belief that all men and women are created equal. He opposed the apartheid administration. He made great contribution to South Africa.His spirit also influence around the world. I appreciate his fortitude, magnanimity's quality. He live in the heart of people all over the world.

All propaganda must be so popular and on such an intellectual level, that even the most stupid of those toward whom it is directed will understand it. Therefore, the intellectual level of the propaganda must be lower the larger the number of people who are to be influenced by it.

This is from The Great Quotations compiled by George Seldes and originally appeared in the British Foreign Policy Association translation of Mein Kampf.

I have saw a news yesterday, which reported there was a sign language interpreter who showed wrong sign language on the TV program. Although there was a big fault as for the grand ceremony, I think great Mandela would forgive him.

Nelson Mandela was the head of UmKhonto we Sizwe, (MK), the terrorist wing of the ANC and South African Communist Party. At his trial, he had pleaded guilty to 156 acts of public violence including mobilizing terrorist bombing campaigns, which planted bombs in public places, including the Johannesburg railway station. Many innocent people, including women and children, were killed by Nelson Mandela’s MK terrorists.

To many hardline neocons in the West plus those fringe groups that like tea-partying etc., Mandela is a sheer terror being the ordained Commander of MX liberation army. It does not help to soothe neocon concerns when Mandela went public in 2002 to declare that the "US is the greatest threat to World Peace."

Mandela would become very angry when he was compared with Gandhi. He declared that he is no saint. Inspired by Edgar Snow's Red Star over China, Mandela became the Commander of the South African Liberation Army. While incarcerated, he never failed to celebrate China's Liberation day. However once in Power, he was wise and courageous enough to recognize the complexities of ruling a rainbow nation and hence, ditched the Socialism with African characteristics which will only heat up racial and class tensions in an already divided nation. Hopefully his spirit of Truth and Reconciliation will enable his successors to carry out the much needed reforms to narrow the gap between the Rich and the increasingly restive poor in society.

Nelson Mandela is a focal point for the hopes and aspirations of the people of South Africa, Africa and oppressed people anywhere in the world, whatever their background. One of his most enduring qualities has to be that he held no grudge against his oppressors -- and he welcomed them with open arms to reconciliation, nation building. Given the atrocities committed, that is incredibly powerful.

Of course, difficult roads remain, he himself recognized the many hills that remain once he/the struggle summited the most impossible of them all. But, we know know that no mountain is too tall, no valley too wide.

In South Africa and internationally, Mandela became a symbol of freedom and equality for his opposition to apartheid, while the apartheid government and nations sympathetic to it condemned him and the ANC as communists and terrorists and so on.All the valiant record about Mandela amazes us, as a foreigner, we may not fully understand the contribution of Mandela to the people of South Africa, but at least we can learn from all his legendary life, Courage and responsibility is very important quality. At last, I want to express my sadness again . No words can adequately describe this enormous loss to South Africa and to the world.Meanwhile,I give thanks for his life, his devotion to South Africa and to the world.

We have to salute those courageous Giants in history and terrorists of their days such as Jesus Christ, Che Guevara, Nelson Mandela et. al. who stood firm in their higher cause, thus were prepared to lay down their lives so that future generations may live in greater liberty from oppression.

In my opinion, it is a must that Mr. Mandela became an excellent and well-known by the people of the world. There are several reasons. First of all, Mr. Mandela is very gritty and determined. In the article, we can see he serviced more than 27 years in prison for his belief that all men and women are created equal. I think not everyone can do it. Besides, he also is a tolerant man. He always forgave the people that ever hurt him. Moreover, as the article writing, Mr. Mandela is the hero of the world. What he pursued and achieved had a great influence on the equality between women and men, between different races. On the one hand, he created irreplaceable wealth for Africa. On the other hand, he also cultivated a fair atmosphere for international environment. So he should be remembered by people.

His long incarceration has aroused indignations of ordinary right thinking people across the world including the West whose own governments were overtly supporting the Apartheid racist regime. Talking from my own experiences as a student in NZ during the 70's, student leaders and progressive trade unionists had organised HART - acronym for "Halt All Racist Tours" against visiting Springbok team in support of the incarcerated Mandela and put pressure on the Right wing government as well as Sport administrators who had argued to keep sports separate from politics. Today in strange twist of events, Western countries will not hesitate to use politics in sporting events against their nemesis like during the Moscow Olympics game.

Nelson Mandela is the real hero of the world. His inspiration deserves our appreciation. After serving more than 27 years in prison, he believed in belif and insisted what he did, no matter how the difficulties are. I really appreciate it.

I feel like there is a word that all the goons coming out of the woodwork would love to be able to use instead of having to use words like "terrorist", "communist", "Marxist."
It starts with N and ends with R.
To all of you low IQ, white individuals out there, all I ask, is if the roles were reversed, what would you have done?
Oh, I know, you would've sat behind your computer screens and hurled cheap, pathetic, and hopelessly facile comments like you all are doing know.
For all of you bashing Nelson Mandela, you don't have 1/1000 the class he did.
Now go back into your respective holes.

Thanks not only to Nelson Mandela (Black African terrorist) but also to Fidel Castro (White foreign revolutionary), Africans today have found their voices on Human dignity and Human rights. Indeed the African people has stood up to paraphrase Mao.

For saving South Africa from the horror of civil war, we thank you. For showing us how to live our lives with courage and in service to humanity, we thank you. And we pledge that we will try to live up to your hopes and expectations and we will try to ensure that the generations that follow will learn from the way you lived your life.
Go well revered friend.

Africa is no longer the dark continent as had been regularly portrayed in some colonial adventurist stories. In fact, the continent is growing and brimming with new hopes thanks to dedicated giants like Nelson Mandela.

Truly speaking, Nelson Mandela’s long walk from an apartheid prisoner to South African President to a loving father of all south Africans, black and white alike, who tried his best to remake the country based on equity and justice through democratic process has been matchless and hugely inspiring.